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Omnichannel customer engagement is no longer a nice thing to have, it’s a necessity. In today’s digital world, customers expect a seamless, personalized experience across all channels, and if they don’t get it, they will take their business elsewhere.
Channels are converged and customers can move freely from one to another, often across multiple channels at once. They can research a product on their website, then ask a question on social media, before finally making an in-store purchase. Omnichannel customer engagement is key to meeting these expectations and ensuring that customers have a smooth, consistent experience with your brand no matter how they choose to engage.
Here are 13 ways to create an omnichannel customer engagement strategy that will keep your customers coming back for more:
Related: Omnichannel Customer Experience: Why It’s More Important Than Ever Today
1. Get to know your customers
Omnichannel customer engagement starts with understanding who your customers are and what they want. What are their needs and pain points? What motivates them? Which channels do they prefer? Traditionally, companies have tried to derive these insights from third-party data. But today there’s a better way: Zero-party data.
Zero-party data is data that you proactively collect from your customers through quizzes, surveys, calculators, forms, and other interactions, which can be easily done with tools such as involve me. This data is explicit, voluntary and collected with the knowledge and consent of the customer.
Because it comes directly from the customer, zero-party data is much more accurate and reliable than third-party data. It gives you a much deeper understanding of your customers, which is essential for omnichannel customer engagement.
2. Determine your customer journey
Once you understand your customers well, you need to define the different stages of their journey with your brand. What does the customer experience look like at each stage?
Map the customer journey from start to finish, including all the different touchpoints and interactions with your brand. This will help you understand where omnichannel customer engagement can have the greatest impact.
3. Identify the most important moments of truth
Moments of truth are important customer interactions that have a major impact on the relationship between a customer and a brand. They can be positive (a moment that makes the customer happy) or negative (a moment that frustrates the customer).
There are many different moments of truth in the customer journey, but some examples include first impressions, purchasing decisions, customer service interactions, and post-purchase experiences.
To create an omnichannel customer engagement strategy, you need to identify the moments of truth in the customer journey and design specific omnichannel touchpoints for each.
4. Create a consistent brand experience
Customers should have the same experience with your brand regardless of the channel they use. This means creating consistency across all channels in terms of messaging, tone, design and overall experience.
Your website, social media channels, brick-and-mortar stores, and customer service interactions should all feel like part of the same brand. This helps create a seamless omnichannel customer engagement strategy.
Related: Redefining Omnichannel: How to Be Where Your Customers Are
5. Use data to personalize the experience
Zero-party data collected from quizzes, surveys, forms and other interactions can be used to personalize the customer experience across all channels.
This data can be used to segment customers into different groups, customize messages and content, and provide a more personalized experience at every touchpoint.
6. Make sure your website is optimized for mobile
In today’s digital world, it is essential that your website is optimized for mobile. More than half of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices, so it’s important that your site is easy to use and easy to navigate on a smartphone or tablet.
Mobile optimization is essential for omnichannel customer engagement because it ensures that customers can interact seamlessly with your brand, no matter what device they use.
7. Use Mobile Apps to Connect with Customers
Mobile apps can be a powerful tool for omnichannel customer engagement. They can be used to send push notifications, offer loyalty programs and rewards, provide personalized content and much more.
In addition, mobile apps help you collect zero-party data that can be used to personalize the customer experience across all channels.
8. Make sure your social media channels match your brand
Social media is a powerful channel for engaging with customers, but it’s important that your social media presence is aligned with your brand.
Your social media channels should have the same look and feel as your website and other channels, and they should share the same messaging, tone, and overall experience.
Related: Your customers are using multiple devices. You should be too with Omni-Channel Marketing.
9. Use Social Media to Provide Customer Service
Social media is a great channel for customer service. In fact, more and more customers expect brands to provide customer service through social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Social media offers customers a quick and easy way to engage with your brand and get a response. It is important to respond quickly and efficiently to customer service inquiries to create a positive omnichannel customer engagement strategy.
10. Use chatbots for customer service
Chatbots are computer programs that can simulate human conversations, and they are becoming increasingly popular for customer service.
Chatbots can be used to answer common customer questions, make recommendations, and even process transactions. They are available 24/7, so they can help you provide excellent customer service around the clock.
11. Use AI for real-time personalized recommendations
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to provide real-time personalized recommendations to customers across all channels.
For example, if a customer is looking at a pair of shoes on your website, AI can be used to recommend other products that may interest them, such as socks or a bag to carry the shoes in. These kinds of personalized recommendations make for a more engaging omnichannel customer experience.
12. Integrate your physical and digital channels
In today’s omnichannel world, it is important to integrate your physical and digital channels. This means using technology to connect your online and offline channels and using data to create a seamless experience for customers no matter how they choose to engage with your brand.
For example, you can send push notifications to customers’ mobile phones when they are near your store, or use QR codes to serve digital content in physical locations.
13. Use Location-Based Marketing
Location-based marketing is a great way to engage with customers in a relevant and timely manner. It allows you to send messages and offers to customers based on their location, which can be used to direct visitors to your store or encourage online purchases.
Location-based marketing can be used in conjunction with other omnichannel strategies, such as personalization and integration, to create a premium customer experience.
By understanding your customers, defining the customer journey, and creating consistent, personalized experiences across all channels, you can create an omnichannel strategy that keeps your customers coming back for more.
